10 Things You Need To Know About new series of The Crown
Blockbuster royal drama The Crown is back. Here’s what Queen Elizabeth II is facing in series two…
1 Series one of the Netflix drama was a very big deal, especially for a show that is only available online. It won two Baftas, two Golden Globes and three Emmys.
It covered Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding to Prince Philip, her ascension to the throne and her reign until the mid-1950s. And it’s still available to stream on Netflix if you need to catch up.
2 If you thought £100million for a 10-part series was a big budget, rumour has it this second run is costing twice that. That means it’s broken its own record for being the most expensive series ever made. In series one, the replica of Her Majesty’s wedding dress apparently cost a whopping £27,000. (In real life, the Queen paid for hers with rationing coupons.)
3 Claire Foy and those clipped vocal tones return as the Queen. The action starts in 1956, when the Queen was 30. In real life, Claire is 33 and will pass the role over to Olivia Colman for series three, which will cover the monarch’s slightly later life. Matt Smith is also back as the Duke of Edinburgh – there’s no news yet as to who’ll replace him in the role.
4 Michael C Hall – best known for the American serial killer drama Dexter – will play US president John F Kennedy, who comes to power in 1961. Rellik’s Jodi Balfour plays his wife Jackie. Endeavour and Game Of Thrones’ Anton Lesser joins the show as future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
5 Something that made the first series so fascinating was how much it speculated on the state of the Queen and Prince Philip’s marriage – especially as it’s airing just after they’ve celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary. There’s no let-up as series two begins. Rumours abound about the Prince, and Elizabeth has her own suspicions when she finds something compromising among her husband’s possessions. We even get to see the pair discuss the possibility of divorce.
6 It’s clear from this series that 1956 and 1957 were very turbulent times for the Queen. To try to make Philip feel more involved and important, Her Majesty sent him on a five-month tour in 1956, which incorporated opening the Olympic Games in Melbourne. But the series shows this separation put immense strain on their marriage.
7 Meanwhile, Her Majesty faced a furore at home with the Suez Crisis – look out for some impressive scenes of the turmoil in Egypt in episode one. Jeremy Northam returns as Prime Minister Anthony Eden but, as history tells us, his days at the top are numbered…
8 One of the standout stars of series one was undoubtedly Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. Fans will be pleased she’s back from the start of series two – and she’s just as hard-living and rebellious as ever. Downton Abbey’s Matthew Goode will play photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, her future husband.
9 Creator and writer Peter Morgan returns at the helm of the 10-part second series. “The second season really examines the journey for Prince Philip,” he reveals. “We find out things about him that I don’t think many people know, and the character is centre stage,” echoes executive producer Philip Martin.
10 The series follows Britain into that most colourful of decades – the 1960s. The period not only signalled the arrival of Prince Edward in 1964, but the country’s attitude to the monarchy was shifting. “The outside world is really encroaching, you can feel it, and it’s not friendly,” says Claire. “The world is changing, you’re going into the Sixties and no one’s prepared for what’s about to happen.”
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